No. 12-year-olds are NOT children. I'm 12, I'm not a child. I'm a tween, OK? "Child" makes me sound like a little kid...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I just spewed coffee all over my keyboard.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Haha, "tween." I remember when I tried to pull that one.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

**Yes**, 12-year-olds are freaking children; being a "tween" is the same thing as being a child, it's just a particular age group of children. It's like saying "4-year-olds aren't children, they're toddlers". **IT'S THE SAME THING**. I'm 14 and I'm still very much a child, I may be a teenager but that still makes me a child; you are still a child as long as you are under 18. Stop acting arrogant and just be a kid, which you ARE... You're behaving as if being called a child or a kid is a bad thing. I know you must hear this a lot but I will repeat this mantra because us kids now as days seem to forget this: being young doesn't last forever. Soon you'll be wishing you were still a child. That's why I try to act like a kid while I can, when we try to grow up too fast we miss so many childhood experiences and it comes back to haunt us in adulthood. P.S Being called a "child" doesn't make you sound like a little kid, your comment made you sound like a little kid. P.P.S. I am **not** sorry for the long comment, all kids need to hear this.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

4-year-olds are preschoolers, not toddlers.

by Anonymous 4 years ago

Being a child means someone who hasn't reached full development, your YYA means being annoyed someone under 25 says "when I was a child"

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Being a child **legally** means being under 18. I feel like people should say "when I was younger" or if they want to be specific "when I was a teenager/toddler/preteen etc".

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Being a child actually means not being fully developed. Legality is irrelevant, especially considering it's not 18 in a lot of countries. It's 12 in some and 21 in others.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Okay, I really don't want to fight. All I'm saying is that being a child isn't that bad. You do have a point though. Using your definition a person who is 22 or 23 can be a child (though I thought the age most reach their full development was after puberty, which is like 15 - 19). That isn't a bad thing, being young is awesome and being called a kid or a child should not have such a negative connotation around it. Aren't we all children as we are all sons or daughters of our parents, which is the other definition of "children". That's why I said that we should say "When I was younger" or a more definite age group than "children".

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I remember when I was twelve. I wanted to be older so bad. I guess that's where anon is coming from, and I see exactly how he feels. To grossly oversimplify, its just like a little five year old telling a three year old that he is a "big kid". Because he wants to be a big kid so bad, he doesn't realize the difference between being a big kid and being a bigger kid. This is probably going to sound like shit since I'm fourteen and therefore still a kid, but I just wanted to say that I get where anon is coming from. Also, before I post this comment, I would like to tell anon to refrain from saying he is 12 on the internet and subsequently expecting people to be nice to him and treat him the way he wants to be treated regardless. It's much easier to just say you're like 22 and act as mature and open-minded as you possibly fucking can.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

mchalla3 That's really true, I never thought about it that way. Also, I didn't know you're 14... You always sounded so much older and experienced. I also agree with you about Anon not saying that he/she is 12; I came on this website when I was that age and I knew that people were not going to be accepting of me because of my age so I never mentioned it and tried to act as old as I could. It actually helped me, I've learned to be more open-minded and empathetic. Just don't get to carried away trying to portray someone who is older, keep that side of you on the internet but still act like a child in real life. I get where Anon is coming from but at the same time people our age have to realize that we are young and that we should embrace it (maybe not so much on the internet as mentioned above). There nothing wrong with being a child.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Haha the experienced sounding-ness (is that a word?) comes from years of lurking on reddit and here, and attempting to console an older cousin after a really bad break-up. Thanks! it means a lot to me. Oh, yeah, I didn't consider the double-life might leak over. I do it so much that I don't realize how much it leaks over for me as well. I try to embrace my young-ness as much as possible, but I can't help but wait for the "prime twenties" and college and beyond because it is my biggest dream to raise a family and be a surgeon. College will give me that. I try to channel this towards working hard in school but its so hard XP I miss being a younger kid though, that was great! I totally agree with you on this one.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Holy shit you are just like me! Reddit, looking forward to college, working hard in school etc. Only difference is that I never consoled a cousin over a bad break up and that I want to be a pharmacist when I grow up. I spend so much time on the internet going from website to website that I just sort of built my personality/opinions from different discussions. It spills out **a lot** in real life as I tend to act more mature than my peers (not to sound superior or anything, most of my classmates are pretty dumb). I miss being a younger kid as well, puberty is a bitch.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Yay! we should probably move this to the PM's so as not to take away from the post. I fucking hate about 75% of my classmates, for reasons that I would rather not publicly broadcast on a website like this. But yeah, they are all vapid pricks who need to wake the fuck up and take a long, hard, look in the mirror. The irritating thing is that PMS makes me so irrational and I can't do fucking anything about it.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Being under 18 doesn't mean you're a child. Not having gone through puberty yet does. I'd say as a general rule, under 13 is a child, over 13 isn't.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Yeah but 13-15 years of age is kind of a transitional period, because that's when you have a child in a more adult-like body. That is what is called a preteen in my eyes.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Wouldn't preteen be before teen, like 10 - 12? At 13 - 15 you're already a teen. It really depends on the maturity of the person. From 13 or 14 I considered myself no longer a child.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

From what I have seen, kids dont start maturing until they're about 15-16ish. That's why I consider 13-15 a child.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

They're preteens, not children (as if the definition really matters to you). It's like being annoyed at someone who's 19 for saying "when I was a teen..." They're legally an adult, but their age has "teen" in it. Who cares? When 12 year old says that, they're obviously referring to a younger time in the same way a 19 year old says "when I was a teen" is obviously referring to being a younger teen. Why would someone's personal ideal of what a child is annoy you? And please, tell me how you still thought of yourself as a child when you were 12.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I feel like, "when I was younger." would be more appropriate.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I find it annoying now, but I know I said it when I was that age. I babysat a six year old girl and I asked her if she still watched Dora the Explorer and she looked at me seriously say, "no, that show is for little kids!" I tried so hard not to laugh ^csb

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Kids that age want so bad to be a "big kid". Try to refrain from laughing. It's really disrespectful.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Dora the Explorer isn't really for six-year-olds. It's more for three and four year olds.

by Anonymous 4 years ago

My brother is two years older than me but he's a little baby, so often he'll do something stupid and I'll be like, "I remember when ii was your age!"

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I could see how it would be annoying but most people I knew when I was twelve used it as a joke because obviously we realized that a twelve year old saying 'back in my day" or "back when I was a kid" was ridiculous.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Baby 0-1 Toddler 1-3 Child 3-6 Boy/Girl 6-9 Preteen 9-12 Young adult 12-17 Adult 17 and older

by Anonymous 4 years ago